The Challenges of Regulating Foreign Influence on Social Media
Abstract
Concerns about foreign influence on social media have become increasingly prominent. The recent controversies over influence by Russian entities in the 2016 US presidential election brought disparate concerns into public view. The explosion in influence through social media platforms raises sensitivities about state intrusion and private enterprise regulation. In the context of debates over ‘fake news’ and subsequent regulation of political advertising on social media, the question is how to effectively prevent or manage this kind of intervention in the future.
The issue of foreign entities attempting to project influence through social media is not new. A research team conducting a detailed examination of a small portion of influence campaigns conducted on Twitter argued that such actions are “an enabling tactic for foreign governments to conduct operations to undermine the abroad democratic systems” (Benge, 2019). Four analyses of the use of embargoes for political effects found similar characteristics of coordination, amplification and adaption in responses. However, the use of social media has changed significantly since the first studies of potential involvement in shaping public opinion about foreign policy during the Cold War.
In an environment of ambiguous involvement and dramatic technological change, understanding the contours of the problem is not straightforward, and hence, neither is the task of addressing it. The effectiveness of such influence is largely believed to be relatively limited, indicating that the more recent concerns may have advantages over realities. On the other hand, a sophisticated use of digital technologies may amplify nefarious attempts via social media. In the context of the benefits, and potential challenges, presented by contemporary digital communication, the development of foreign influence on social media will be explored. It will be examined the potential ramifications of such influence, implications as to the nature of foreign influence operation, and possible avenues for defending against effectively regulating such operations.
Keywords
social media, political parties, party dynamics, voter engagement, internal structure, misinformation, communication strategies, electoral politics
